SamIAmUBUF

That bottom horn screams "Break Me".....

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as I said before, this is a rough representation of the body. The bottom horn is not true to scale

I've got it!! It's genious, however, in order to do this you'll have to like headless guitars, and those rear mounted tuning bridges.

What you could do is after the zero fret make the strings go down holes through the neck. Ie: to string it you'd stick the string up through th neck, and then the tuners would be behind the bridge like on a steinberger or that one BC Rich Bich model.

OR you could use a normal bridge and normal EVERYTHING, but have the strings go down through the neck after the zero fret again.  But with this idea you still have a headstock but with the tuners mounted upside-down where after the strings do through the neck you thread them on the UNDERSIDE of the headstock, and the gears are on the top of the headstock. Could be cool?

And since the strings go THROUGH the neck they'll be mounted strongly and therefore no chance of wood breaking, etc.

Chris

PS: Maybe cause neck instability at the headstock joint... will probably NEED a nice big volute!

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I'm going with a TOM style bridge and string-through-body mounting, so your second option sounds ridiculously cool. too bad the string spacing at the neck is too tight to use ferrules.

You, sir, are brilliant

exactly, so use an ebony fingerboard and use a graphtechnut. Tada, black with black, and since it'll be flush, you'll barely notice it.

Chris

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I just have to find someone who can magically turn my rosewood fretboard into ebony

Looks good dude, but you might want to do a pic with the neck on, those horns look like they may get in the way a bit? But otherwise cool design 6 string basses... yummy

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yeah, the bottom horn doesn't really come that close. Keep in mind this isn't to exact proportions. I don't have a camera good enough to take a detailed pic of my plans, so I half-assed this image instead

ok, here's a basic (poorly photoshopped) idea of my bass' body shape. It's basically a cross between a few Ritter models and a BC Rich wave

And with some poorly photoshopped hardware and electronics...

Let me know what you think thus far

what I would do, is still have a nut, but just set it SO low that the top of it is flush with the fretboard. So the strings still hit the zero fret, THEN go back over the nut onto the tilted back headstock.

Chris

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the reason I thought of this is that I don't particularly like the appearance of a zero fret with a nut behind it (I think it looks kind of awkward and inconsistant with the rest of the neck), but I love the tonal consistancy and freedom to bend of a zero fret.

You could use the fretboard wood but under only one condition, the strings have to continue straight on thru.  You can't angle them off like they do on Gibson style 3/3 headstocks.  Otherwise the fretboard wood is not strong enough to hold the lateral force(s) of string tension and the wood at the outer edges, at the 1st and 6th strings, will split and break off.  Even passing the strings straight thru might not prevent splitting.  Just a little outward string bending could cause that problem.

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the headstock I have planned would pull the strings straight through the grooves....I may have to abandon this idea

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I don't follow...are you saying you're not going with a tilt-back headstock? If you have straight pull across the zero fret, and enough wood backing up the slots behind the zero fret, I would have thought you'd be OK even though the grain is (presumably) running parallel to the strings.

I finished an ebony nut for my 5 about a month ago, 13-degree tilt-back with a not-too-severe but certainly-not-straight string path between nut and posts. Works fine so far (but the grain is also perpendicular to the strings).

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I'm saying I'm considering scrapping the whole idea and just using a nut. Southpa's advice has raised some serious doubt.

You could use the fretboard wood but under only one condition, the strings have to continue straight on thru.  You can't angle them off like they do on Gibson style 3/3 headstocks.  Otherwise the fretboard wood is not strong enough to hold the lateral force(s) of string tension and the wood at the outer edges, at the 1st and 6th strings, will split and break off.  Even passing the strings straight thru might not prevent splitting.  Just a little outward string bending could cause that problem.

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that's a really good point. the headstock I have planned would pull the strings straight through the grooves. Unfortunately, I'm using a zero fret so I can bend easier on the first couple of frets. looks like, for the sake of my fretboard, I may have to abandon this idea

Thanks for all of your input

ok, I want to use a zero fret on my 6-string bass. It's normal to have a nut behind the zero fret to hold the string spacing. Here's my question; Is there any reason why I can't, insead of using a nut, cut slots in the fretboard behind the zero fret to hold the stings in place?

I've used it for a couple of guitar bodies and drum shells. I'm pretty pleased with it. just make sure you clean the nozzle frequently, because they clog very easily. I always clean it after spraying, then again before I do the next coat.

I don't have any idea how hot those Mighty Mite pickups are, and of course they don't have any info on them at their site, either - you might have to put a trimmer between them and the Artec, but more than likely it'll be fine.

You do realize that in this case, you're getting no benefit from the active pickups, right? Since the Artec buffers both the tone circuits and the output, using active pickups is pretty much redundant. 

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No, I didn't realize that. As I said before, I've never dealt with active electronics. That's why I asked.

Which active bass pickups and which active EQ? There's no inudstry standard, like shoe sizes or spark plugs or something like that, so you'll have to check out the specs on what you want to use, case by case. More than likely, it would be no problem, although there are some active pickups that could easily drive a 9 volt EQ circuit into nasty clipping if both were anywhere near maxed.

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This EQ and mighty mite active soapbars

A preamp simply boosts signal level - an EQ selectively boosts or cuts a defined range of frequencies, while leaving others unaffected.

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I guess my followup question is, can an active EQ be used with active bass pickups?

what's the difference between an onboard preamp and an active onboard EQ?

Sorry, I've done a lot of passive guitar wiring, but I've never touched this stuff

I'm making a neck through rhoads V thats 1-1/4" thick. Im using rock maple for the neck and center, and oak for the sides.  Seeing as oak is like steel I shouldn't have a problem with strenth, as for tone.....pending, have to wait and see/hear.  Gibson SG's are extremely thin.  Ibanez's are ridiculously thin.

It has been said in recent years that thickness of an electric guitar/bass has less bearing on the tone than once thought. I'll let you know when I'm done.

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awesome, keep me posted

the through-body neck is maple with ebony and walnut lams. I haven't yet selected the primary wood for the body wings, but they'll have a 3/8" purpleheart top to allow me to bevel without exposing the wood underneath.

My question is, Can I get away with a 1-3/8 thick body? I'm trying to cut down on weight but still have a strong, solid body. It's a 6-string, so I realize there will be a lot of pressure on the wood.

Thanks for your input

I'm looking for a bass preamp for my 2 6-string active soapbars. I'm looking for something simple with volume, blend and 2- or 3-band eq pots. I'm planning on installing some onboard effects, so I want a small preamp so I don't kill my bass tone with too much routing.

Any suggestions here?

Anyone know where I might be able to find a tune-o-matic style 6-string bass bridge?

i was wondering the same thing with integrating a distortion/overdrive effect into my guitar.

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you can buy an onboard overdrive Here for relatively cheap.

Possible? Absolutely! Simple? Fairly. Easy? Well, there's the rub - if you can get around the space constraints and the noise issues, and find a place for all the controls, it's no problem at all.

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Thanks for the responses guys. I actually haven't built the body yet, but I have a design that will allow for the effects

I was wondering it it's possible to carefully gut a bass single-effect pedal and install it in a bass as an onboard effect. Has anyone here ever tried this?

~A-Train

Ah, OK.  Just make sure you select the bridge you want and then draw it all out; given the nut and bridge, the neck taper will fall into place.

It can be tough to find PH thick enough for 1-piece wings, like 1-1/2" thick (6/4).  You ...could... go thinner with heavy wood but then you're weakening the neck blank when you rout for the pickups. 

My wood guy stocks PH, I'll see if he's got any thick stuff on my next visit.  I was thinking of picking up some anyway.

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I actually found PH thick enough to do the body, but I've heard that it's just too heavy to make an entire body (or solid body wings) out of. Would it be worth it to use a piece of lighter wood sandwiched between 2 layers of PH and cut the body wings out of that?

Well alright!  Welcome to the forum 

Are you thinking swamp ash (light) or northern ash (heavy)?

I also thought immediately of purpleheart; it is very dense and hard, and heavy.

The other thing I picked up on was the string spacing at the bridge (3-1/4"), I'm guessing that's a misprint as it can't be the same as at #24 (3-1/4").  Do you mean 3-3/4" string spread, like on the Hipshot 6 bridge?

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the width of the fretboard at the 24th is 3 1/4 (the string spacing at the 24th fret will be less than that) I modeled it (so some degree) after carvin's 6-string basses. I have small fingers, so I want a bit narrower neck. To answer your question, I was thinking northern ash if I could get it. I like an instrument with a bit of weight to it. At this point, I'm really into the idea of usng purpleheart, but I'm still looking around and keeping my options open.

Also, any thoughts on where I can get a relatively inexpensive purpleheart body blank or enought to make a body for this bass?

If you want to go for a purple theme, why not use purpleheart wings, or at least wing caps? Getting a purple to clear transition will be really hard, and if you want to show off  the neck, then you definitely don't want to cover the through body section!

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I'm not covering the through body section. I'm simply attaching the wings to the side of the through bodu section without putting any top on it. Also, I'm not trying to blend from purple to clear. it'll be a clearly defined line between the purple body wings and the through-body

To be honest, I didn't even think about using purpleheart. That's a very good thought. I'll look into it to see if the cost outweights the extra work I'd have to do mixing the right shade of purple

I'm building a 6-string bass with a thru-body neck (thanks to erikbojerik for the neck blank) and I was hoping some experienced builders had some suggestions or comments. I haven't really finished planning everything out, but hese are the specs I'm considering thus far:

Dimensions:

2 1/16" at the nut (Carvin 6-string bass nut)

3 1/4" at the 24th fret

34" scale 27 fret pau ferro fretboard

3 1/4" string spacing at the bridge

24" Hot Rod truss rod

I'm considering ash body wings with a transparent purple finish and transparent finish on the thru-body neck (more-or-less to make the body frame the ebony/walnut/maple striped neck). I'll probably finish off with all gold hardware.

Any suggestions, warnings, obvious mistakes?